1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic device, and more particularly, to a wireless network device.
2. Description of Related Art
People have expected higher connection quality at an access point (AP) of a wireless local area network as user equipments (e.g., smart phones and tablet computers) become more diverse. In general, the most important factor that affects the connection quality of a wireless network signal is the installation position of the AP. Further, the environment for installing the AP also becomes more diverse due to higher user demands.
Furthermore, multiple APs installed in the same space may also cause serious interference problems between the APs. For instance, when the AP is installed in each classroom for E-learning, it is very important to avoid mutual interference between the APs in neighboring classrooms. Aside from that, general Wi-Fi deployments in a hotel is usually by placing access points in hallways, therefore, it is difficult for the APs to provide signal coverage for the entire floor.
In response to market trend and demands, vendors have designed a new AP with smart antenna technology. Nonetheless, in addition to its sophisticated operations, the smart antenna technology is also very complex in both product design and manufacturing phases. Therefore, performance of the smart antenna can be easily influenced by the aforesaid reasons. If a problem occurs, it could be more difficult to solve the problem.
On the other hand, based on the extrinsic factors such as aesthetic requirements, it is more popular for APs to adopt an internal antenna design which provides a single radiation pattern. However, the single radiation pattern provided by internal antennas is usually worse than external antennas. Besides, the single radiation pattern of the internal antennas cannot be changed according to user's installation environments and demands. Accordingly, one of the disadvantages of internal antennas is that it is difficult to dispose antenna elements within the limited space of the housing in order to satisfy diverse installation environments.